To the Wonderful Team at Pace,
We at Ford Motor Company wanted to send our thanks and praise for all of the contributions that you made in helping us to create more than 19 million face shields for our courageous first responders, health care professionals and essential workers throughout the country during the initial months of the pandemic. Your efforts directly contributed to our ability to aggressively ramp up our face shield production capabilities from about 100,000/week in mid-March to over 1 million/week by mid-May. When Ford Motor Company put out the call for a shop that could expedite tooling to rapidly expand our elastic production (1 of the 3 key components of the face shield), Pace quickly responded with the speed and tenacity required to ensure that these face shields could be manufactured and distributed to as many HEROES as possible.
In April of this year, Ford created an ambitious plan to create the ability to produce approximately millions of face shields per week. While we had managed to procure enough elastic, our suppliers noted that they did not have the ability to cut the elastic to length at the speed required to keep up with Ford’s production schedule. Ford quickly went to work searching for a tool shop with our supplier partners that could manufacture and deliver a solution as quickly as possible. Pace rapidly answered the call with a custom single anvil die cutting machine. While our best estimates suggested a 4 week lead time, Pace worked diligently and efficiently to decrease the build time to about 2 weeks, even working over the Easter Holiday! These face shields reduced the spread of the virus, and Pace’s efforts were a HUGE part of our success.
The Pace team highlights versatility, flexibility and rugged construction – some of the core competencies listed on your website. The machine provided by Pace worked flawlessly and contributed to an amazing project to protect the lives of those who are working to protect us all. It was pleasure to work with the wonderful team at PACE Converting Equipment LLC!
